Leaders of seven faiths signed Italy’s landmark Pact for Dialogue at Rome’s Ara Pacis, pledging interfaith unity, social cohesion, and shared human dignity.
Newsroom (25/06/2026 Gaudium Press ) Representatives of seven of Italy’s major religious traditions gathered at Rome’s Ara Pacis auditorium to sign a landmark interfaith accord, marking what many described as a defining moment in the country’s long and evolving relationship with religious pluralism.
Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and Bahá’ís — fifteen signatories in total — stepped forward one by one to sign the Pact for Dialogue, a jointly drafted document formalizing what its architects call “the Italian path of interreligious dialogue.” The ceremony was the culmination of a roundtable process established in 2023 and coordinated by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), which brought religious leaders together in sustained, structured conversation over the course of two years.
A Pact “Offered to Society”
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Bologna, framed the accord not as a private agreement between institutions but as a message directed outward — at Italian society at large. “Those who listen to God listen to others,” Zuppi said from the podium, calling the signing “a truly moment of great joy and great commitment for everyone.”
The cardinal was careful to distinguish the pact’s vision from two concepts it explicitly rejects. Relativism — the flattening of all religious traditions into equivalence — and syncretism — the blending of distinct beliefs into a single hybrid — are not what this document represents, he said. On the contrary, the pact is built on the premise that authentic identity, rooted in one’s own tradition, is the very precondition for genuine encounter with others. “Syncretism exists when there is no dialogue,” Zuppi emphasized. Identity, he added, does not mean “speaking above others” but rather engaging across difference with openness and without prejudice.
At its core, the Pact commits its signatories to pursue “the option of dialogue with determination even when positions differ and when internal or external pressures fuel fractures and disagreements.” The language is deliberately resilient — even in circumstances where dialogue proves difficult to sustain, the document states that parties remain committed to preserving the fundamental shared values it enshrines: social cohesion, the dignity of life, and a sense of community.
Deep Roots, New Commitments
Cardinal Zuppi situated the pact within a longer arc of Catholic-led interfaith outreach, drawing a direct line to Pope John Paul II’s 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi — a landmark event that brought together leaders of dozens of world religions and is widely regarded as a turning point in modern interfaith relations. The signing at the Ara Pacis, he suggested, is “the mature fruit” of the tradition that gathering inaugurated — a tradition of listening, he said, that strips away “prejudices and clichés” to reveal the human and spiritual heritage each religious tradition carries within itself.
The CEI’s role as both initiator and coordinator of this process is significant. Its willingness to convene competing theologies around a shared civic purpose reflects a broader strategy of positioning religious communities not as sources of social division, but as active contributors to national cohesion.
Voices From Across the Table
Several signatories used the occasion to speak to the urgency of the moment. Rabbi Giuseppe Momigliano, vice president of the Assembly of Rabbis of Italy, pointed to the weight of the current global context. In a period marked by “conflicts in many parts of the world,” he said, it is vital that religious communities “set a positive example of the capacity for dialogue and, where possible, also for collaboration.”
Mustapha Hajraoui of the Italian Islamic Confederation offered a pointed reframing of the role religion plays in the public square: “Religions are not a problem for public space but a resource for social cohesion and peacebuilding.” His words addressed a persistent tension in contemporary European debate, where religious identity — particularly Muslim identity — is often cast in political discourse as incompatible with liberal civic life.
Among the other signatories were figures representing the full breadth of Italy’s religious landscape: Cristin Cappelletti of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy; Naim Nasrollah of the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy; Abu Bakr Moretta, president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community; Daniele Garrone, president of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy; Alberto Aprea of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai; Cenap Mustafà Aydin of the Tevere Institute; Polykarpos, Metropolitan Archbishop of Italy of the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese; Singh Jagjit of the Sikhi Sewa Society; Filippo Scianna, president of the Italian Buddhist Union; Livia Ottolenghi, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities; Yassine Baradai, president of the Union of Islamic Communities of Italy; and Franco Jayendranatha Di Maria, president of the Italian Hindu Union Sanatana Dharma Samgha.
Next Steps: A Presidential Audience
The ceremony did not conclude at the Ara Pacis. In the afternoon, representatives of the signatory communities were received at the Quirinale Palace by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, to whom they delivered a formal copy of the Pact — a gesture underscoring the accord’s civic, and not merely ecclesiastical, significance.
In a political climate where religious difference is frequently weaponized for electoral gain, and where “vulgar polarization that erases differences” — in Cardinal Zuppi’s words — too often defines public discourse, the Pact for Dialogue represents a deliberate and countercultural proposition: that differences, rather than being erased, are a richness to be placed at the service of the common good.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Avvenire
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